Daily Devotional

Scripture Readings

Paschalion — Movable Calendar

Wednesday of the Fifth Week

Epistle

The Reading is from the Acts of the Apostles [§ 32]. In those days:

13 ¹³After Paul and those around him sailed from Paphos, they came to Perga of Pamphylia; and John, having departed from them, turned back to Jerusalem. ¹⁴But after they passed through from Perga, they came into Antioch of Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and sat down. ¹⁵And after the reading of the law and of the prophets, the synagogue rulers sent off to them, saying, “Men, brethren, if there is among you a word of exhortation for the people, say on.” ¹⁶And Paul rose up and made a motion with his hand, and said, “Men, Israelites, and those who fear God, hearken: ¹⁷“The God of this people Israel chose for Himself our fathers, and exalted the people during the sojourn in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm He led them out of it. ¹⁸“And for a time of about forty years He bore with their manners in the wilderness. ¹⁹“And after He pulled down seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed by lot their land to them. ²⁰“And after these things, He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. ²¹“And afterwards they asked a king for themselves; and God gave them Saul, son of Kis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²²“And after He removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He bore witness, and said, ‘I found David, the son of Jesse, a man according to Mine own heart, who shall do all My will [cf. Ps. 88(89):19(20); 1 Kgs. (1 Sam.) 13:14].’ ²³“Of this one, God, from his seed, according to promise, raised up to Israel a Savior—Jesus— ²⁴“after John heralded beforehand, before the face of His entrance, a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.”

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John [§ 18]. At that time:

6 ⁵Jesus, having lifted up His eyes and having beheld that a great crowd was coming toward Him, saith to Philip, “From what place shall we buy loaves, that these might eat?” ⁶But this He was saying putting him to the test, for He knew what He was about to do. ⁷Philip answered Him, “Loaves worth two hundred denarii are not sufficient for them in order that each of them might take a little.” ⁸One of His disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to Him, ⁹“There is one little boy here who hath five barley loaves and two small fish; but what are these for so many?” ¹⁰And Jesus said, “Make the people recline.” Now there was much grass in the place. Then the men reclined, in number about five thousand. ¹¹And Jesus took the loaves; and after He gave thanks, He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those reclining; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wished. ¹²And when they were filled, He saith to His disciples, “Gather together the fragments which remain over, that nothing might be lost.” ¹³Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five loaves of barley which remained over to those who had eaten. ¹⁴Then the people, having seen what sign Jesus did, began to say, “This is truly the Prophet Who cometh into the world.”

Menaion — Fixed Calendar

The commemoration of our fathers among the saints, Epiphanios, Bishop of Cyprus, and Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople.

Epistle

The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews [§ 318]. Brethren:

7 ²⁶Such a High Priest was fitting for us: holy, guileless, undefiled, Who hath been separated from the sinners and hath become higher than the heavens, ²⁷Who hath no need daily, even as the high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, then for those of the people; for this He did once for all after He offered up Himself. ²⁸For the law appointeth men high priests who have weakness; but the word of the oath, which is after the law, appointeth the Son, Who hath been perfected forever.

8 ¹Now in reference to the things being spoken of, the chief point is: We have such a High Priest, Who sat down on the right of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, ²a Liturgist of the holies and of the tabernacle, the true one, which the Lord pitched, and not man.

Gospel

The Reading is from the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew [§ 11]. The Lord said to His disciples:

5 ¹⁴“Ye are the light of the world. A city situated on the top of a mountain cannot be hid. ¹⁵“Nor do they light a lamp and put it under the bushel, but upon the lampstand, and it giveth light to all those in the house. ¹⁶“Thus, let your light shine before men, that they might see your good works, and might glorify your Father Who is in the heavens.

¹⁷“Do not begin to think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I came not to abolish, but to fulfill. ¹⁸“For verily I say to you, until the heaven and the earth shall have passed away, one iota or one tittle in no wise shall pass away from the law, until all shall have taken place. ¹⁹“Whosoever then shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens.”

Lives of the Saints (Prologue)

May 25th – Civil Calendar
May 12th – Church Calendar

1. St. Epiphanios, Bishop of Cyprus.

He was born a Jew, but seeing the power of the Christian Faith, was baptized together with his sister, Kallithrope. He became a monk at the age of twenty-six, in the monastery of St. Hilarion. He later founded a monastery of his own, and became famed throughout Palestine and Egypt for his asceticism, his spiritual wisdom and the wonders he worked. Fleeing the praise of men, he went off to Egypt. On the way, he met Paphnutios the Great, who prophesied that he would be a hierarch on the island of Cyprus. And indeed, many years later, by God’s providence, Epiphanios came to Cyprus, where he was unexpectedly chosen as bishop. He became bishop of the town of Salamis at the age of fifty, and governed the Church of God for thirty-six years. In all, he lived nearly ninety years on this earth, and entered into rest from this life to live eternally in the kingdom of Christ. Before his death, he was invited to Constantinople by the Emperor Arkadios and his wife, Evdoxia, for the council of bishops which was forced, at the desire of the emperor and empress, to condemn St. John Chrysostom. Arriving in Constantinople, he came to the emperor’s court, where the emperor and empress talked with him at great length, endeavoring to make him declare against Chrysostom. The citizens and St. Chrysostom heard that Epiphanios had agreed with the emperor against him. Chrysostom therefore wrote him a letter: ‘My brother Epiphanios, I hear that you have advised the emperor that I should be banished: know that you will never again see your episcopal throne.’ To this, Epiphanios wrote in return: ‘John, my suffering brother, withstand insults, but know that you will not reach the place to which you are exiled.’ And these two prophecies of the two saints soon came about. Refusing to agree with the emperor on the exile of Chrysostom, Epiphanios took ship and set off for Cyprus, but died on the voyage. The emperor sent St. Chrysostom into exile in Armenia, but the saint died on the road. Saint Epiphanios entered into rest in the year 403. Of his many writings the best-known is his ‘Medicine Chest,’ in Greek, in which he explains and refutes eighty heresies.

2. St. Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople.

He was the son of the head of the imperial senate, who was killed by the Emperor Constantine Pogonatos. This same wicked emperor castrated the senator’s son, this Germanos, and drove him by force into a monastery. As a monk, Germanos shone like a star by his life of good works. Because of this, he was chosen first as Bishop of Kyzikos (Cyzicus) and then, when Anastasios II became emperor in 715, as Patriarch of Constantinople. As patriarch, he baptized the infamous Kopronymos who, at the time of his Baptism, fouled the water with filth, and the patriarch prophesied that, when he became emperor, he would bring some foul heresy into the Church. And this came to pass. When Kopronymos became emperor, he restored the iconoclast heresy. Leo III the Isaurian, Kopronymos’ father, began the persecution of icons, and when Patriarch Germanos opposed him, the furious Leo cried: ‘I am emperor and priest!’ then deposed Germanos from his throne and sent him into exile to a monastery, where the saint spent ten further years until God called him to Himself in the kingdom of heaven, in 740.

3. The Holy Martyr Pancratius.

He came from Phrygia to Rome, where, as a boy of fourteen, he was martyred for Christ in 304. This saint is much revered in the West. There is a church in Rome dedicated to his name, and his holy relics are preserved there.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Clement of Alexandria quotes a horrible barbaric custom. When they took their enemies captive, he says, they bound them each back-to-back with a dead man, and left the two together thus until the living and the dead rotted together. We might say: ‘Thank God that this barbaric custom has ceased.’ In fact it has not ceased, but holds sway today with undiminished strength. Everyone who binds his living soul to a dead body, a body deadened by passions, is just as barbaric as those who bound a living man to a corpse and left them to rot.

Daily Scripture Readings taken from The Orthodox New Testament, translated and published by Holy Apostles Convent, Buena Vista, Colorado, copyright © 2000, used with permission, all rights reserved.

Daily Prologue Readings taken from The Prologue of Ochrid, by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovic, translated by Mother Maria, published by Lazarica Press, Birmingham, England, copyright © 1985, all rights reserved. Edited by Dormition Skete.